Rae Grant Interview and Books Giveaway

Author Rae Grant is one of the writers I feel lucky to work with as part of the wonderful team of contributors who volunteer their time here at Simple Kids.

This giveaway is now closed. Thank you!

Rae Grant also happens to be one of my nine year old daughter Jillian’s favorite authors. We own her books Cooking Fun, Crafting Fun, and Homemade Fun and all three get lots of use at the Fleck house. Rae’s buttermilk pancakes are a Sunday morning tradition and Jillian is currently going through a paper crafting phase, decorating our house for Christmas. These books don’t spend much time on the bookshelf, to be sure!

I have two treats for you today. The first is the interview Rae graciously gave to Jillian. The second is that Rae is generously giving one Simple Kids reader a chance to win all three of her books!

Enjoy!

An Interview with Rae Grant

Jillian: At our house, we like your snickerdoodle cookies. We make them a lot. We call them “Rae Grant cookies.” Do you have a favorite kind of cookie?

Rae: Thank you Jillian, that’s the best compliment! Hmm, my favorite cookie… I think around Christmas time it is Snowballs, also know as Russian Teacakes. Have you ever made them? I can send you and your mom my recipe if you’d like. (Kara’s note: yes, please!)

Jillian and her paper bead necklace

You have a lot of neat ideas for kids for all times of year. What do you like to make for Christmas and Winter?

I can’t wait for December to arrive so I can start making simple crafts to decorate our house for the holidays. I love to sit around the table with my family and friends and make paper chains, fancy and simple, and lots of paper snowflakes. I also love to make cookies and popcorn balls.

I am learning how to sew. Did you learn to sew as a kid or as a grown up? Who taught you?

I started to hand sew when I was a Camp Fire Girl. My mom was also a very good sewer and she set up a sewing room where we kids could go and use her sewing machine. We learned a lot on our own that way, but we always had her around to ask for help when we got stuck.

Do you ever have ideas that don’t work for crafts or recipes? I have them a lot and then I have think of new ideas to make it work. What do you do when that happens?

Oh boy, yes sometimes that happens. Take my chocolate pudding recipe in Cooking Fun. I can make that recipe several times over and it is always perfect and then suddenly it just doesn’t thicken in the same way. I try to go back over the steps to see what I might have done incorrectly. Sometime that just happens. We usually eat the pudding anyway since it tastes good.

When I’m starting a craft project, I have to be sure to read the direction a few times before starting. That helps me to get a picture in my head about what I think it will look like. If a step doesn’t make sense, I try to make the same thing several times, like a paper snowflake, until I get it. Once I get it, then I can make the project just the way I want it to look. Sometimes I still ask for help from someone who knows a little more than me. I like to craft with a friend so we can share ideas and help each other.

I am reading Little House on the Prairie. What was your favorite book as a kid?

Hands down, my favorite book was Farmer Boy by Laura Ingalls Wilder. I think I loved all the delicious food descriptions and of course since I was a horse crazy girl, I love that Almanzo Wilder had a colt of his very own. Have you read that book?

It is snowing here today. When you get a snow day, what do you like to do?

When we get a snow day in New York City, we like to sled ride in Central Park, the big wooded park in New York City. The park has great hills for sledding and all the children run to the park with their sleds to celebrate the snow. Of course, some of the parent don’t sled down the hills and scream like crazy but I’m one of those parents who will do that. I like to feel like a kid as much as I’m allowed. We also like to make hot chocolate on snowy days.

More Rae Grant

The Giveaway

One lucky Simple Kids reader is going to win a copy of Cooking Fun, Crafting Fun, and Homemade Fun from Rae Grant!Please note: today’s giveaway is open to readers in the USA or Canada only. Thank you.

To Enter

Leave a comment answering this question: What is your favorite thing to do on a snow day?

Bonus entry: visit Rae’s blog, My Little Hen, and become a subscriber (scroll down to the bottom left-hand column and “subscribe to this blog’s feed”). Then, come back here, and leave me a separate comment letting me know that you did.

This giveaway will end at midnight EST, Sunday December 12th, 2010. Good luck! This giveaway is now closed. Thank you!

Kara Fleck is the editor of Simple Kids. She is a small town mama, writer, knitter, bookworm, and hooligan. Kara lives in Indiana with her husband Christopher and their four children Jillian, Max, Lucy, and Amelia. You can find more of her writing at KElizabethFleck.com.

My favorite thing to do on a snow day is to do some sledding, come back in for some hot cocoa and cookies and then spend the evening sitting in front of the Christmas tree watching the lights (with the lights of the room off) and talking with family that I love!

Our favorite thing to do is play in the snow and then warm up with hot chocolate and cuddle up to share some books. Last year, when we were snowbound for a while, we also liked making big piles of blankets to jump in or play “She’ll Be Coming Around the Mountain.” My daughter was 2.5 and she would giggle with delight while I changed the lyrics to match what she was wearing or doing.Danielle´s latest post: Advent 2010- Day 4

Oh, it just never snows here. Well, it snows once every other year, but since we live down a dirt road, that also means we lose our electricity. We light a fire, gather flashlights and book lights, and go outside to take pictures of the rare snow (children & dogs confused by snow are our favorites).Sarah B.B.´s latest post: Project Food Blog

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Notice some posts with missing images? Things not quite right? The dust is still settling about as I get the blog up and running again. I'm working to fix images and broken links as quickly as I'm able. Thanks for your patience! - Kara